Fostering Parent-Teacher Relationships when Children are Gifted

Gifted and Talented International (1&2)

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that conducted site visits to 49 elementary schools and 37 secondary schools to investigated teachers' perceptions of the day-by-day operations of their talented and gifted programs. During the site visits, interviews were conducted with teachers, administrators, and students participating in gifted and talented programs. Some of the findings include: (1) teachers developed their own definitions of giftedness; (2) teachers' conceptions of characteristics of gifted students are closely related to their definitions of giftedness; (3) teachers embraced competitions in gifted programs and concluded that their students prosper with them; (4) most teachers believed that their gifted students are well-rounded; however, many mentioned that a small percentage of gifted students have social problems; and (5) teachers' reported a wide range of differences between boys and girls in nonacademic areas. Axioms for teaching the gifted were d...

Qualitative Research in Education, 2021

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Children

Few studies have been conducted analyzing the experience of raising a gifted child. The present exploratory study focused on examining the profiles of a sample of 44 gifted children, exploring aspects related to health status, precociousness of development, and peculiarities of their potentiality and peculiar emotional profile. Through the administration of a semi-structured questionnaire and an in-depth interview, the experience of parents of gifted children was also analyzed, deepening the challenges they have to face and the educational strategies they implement. The evidence that emerged helps shed light on specific aspects that characterize gifted children and have implications for family educational practices.

2009

The purpose of this study was to understand the needs for information and concerns of parents of gifted children. In order to do this, the survey Needs of Parents of Gifted Children (NPGC) was developed. Parents of gifted children (n = 525) from four Canadian provinces responded to the survey. Ten component subscales resulted from a Principal Components Analysis (PCA): Understanding Gifted Children, Creating Educational Opportunities, Choosing Between Educational Programs, Post-graduate Decisions, Lack of Time and Programs for Gifted Students, Emotional Concerns, Social Concerns, Pressure on Parents, Child in Conflict, and Child Underachievement. The component subscale scores were compared by province. Participants from British Columbia and Ontario reported significantly higher levels of concern related to the lack of time and programs for gifted children, social concerns, and pressure on parents when compared to parents from Alberta. Participants from Newfoundland were not included...

Identifying, Describing, and Developing Teachers Who Are Gifted and Talented, 2019

This chapter is comprised of the written recollections of four intellectually gifted adults, all of whom became teachers. None had any idea they would ultimately focus on gifted students. Because there is no significant research about who becomes a teacher of gifted students, the purpose of this chapter is to illustrate some of the precursors, critical events, and catalysts that may lead to becoming an educator and advocate for gifted children. The authors each in turn describe the influences of family and others significant to their own talent development and how their exposure to different social and cultural conditions impacted their views. The vignettes provide firsthand information about what motivated these teachers, both internally and externally, and what personal traits contributed to the ways they have advanced the field. All discovered their own giftedness while educating themselves on the needs of gifted students.

2015

In the paper there are analysed the organisation, conduct and results from training of parents of gifted and talented children as a part of the work for the GATE Project 2013-1-TR1-LEO04-47702. A special attention is paid to providing theoretical and practical help to parents so that they are able to recognize, support and fully help the realization of the gifted child. Purpose: To give the parents of GAT children the opportunity to get acquainted more closely with the phenomenon of giftedness so as they become able to more easily recognize any manifestations of the gift in their own children, learn about the characteristics of their personality, understand better their difficulties and problems and work with them at home. Results: The knowledge of what types of characteristics are 'normal' for talented/gifted young people was provided. The difficulties which GAT students encounter at school and at home, were outlined. Main problems with working with gifted children were identified. Conclusions: In the modern society it's extremely necessary to create tolerance and pro-active format in the parents' attitude towards the problems of their GAT children and to support the parents in the process of constructing maximum favourable conditions for the development of giftedness and creativity in their children.

International Journal of Social Science Research and Review

The study's overarching goals are to determine the nature of the skills taught in schools, the characteristics of the students who excel under those circumstances, the nature of the services available to gifted children, and the nature of the factors that either stifle or foster the development of students' talents. Quantitative study would not be complete without this aspect. Data is collected through in-person interviews, on-the-job observations, and detailed notes. The method utilized to analyse the data also meets the criteria set out by Miles and Huberman. The findings indicate that gifted children are those who excel in areas where their peers often struggle, who show exceptional skill in select areas, and who reach the greatest levels of accomplishment in those areas. Throughout the course of a typical counselling session, a minimum of five of the seven theoretical components of guidance and counselling will be used. The distinctiveness of the student, the encourageme...

1996

This book and video are based on a symposium on ways to foster giftedness in children in kindergarten through third grade. Emphasized throughout are DISCOVER projects, federally funded research and development projects to assist Arizona educators in identifying and planning programs for gifted children from diverse cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. Chapter 1 profiles model DISCOVER classrooms, young gifted learners, and their teachers. A list of materials for a multiple intelligences learning center is provided. Chapter 2 explains the multiple intelligences model of giftedness and the DISCOVER program. Chapter 3 explains 20 developmentally appropriate practices, including: age-appropriate practices; individually appropriate curriculum; acceptance of diversity; humane, supportive, flexible, and responsive environments; a whole child perspective; active, interactive learning; learner-centered, teacher-facilitated curriculum; integrated curriculum; challenging learning activities and experiences; extensive planning; intrinsic motivation; supportive guidance and discipline; authentic assessment; community-based programs; parent involvement; and collaboration. The S. W. Schiever and C. J. Maker Continuum of Problem Types is presented and applied to the study of cycles in seasons and weather. Appendices provide: a list of symposium participants, a transcipt of the symposium video, and abstracts of DISCOVER projects. The video shows symposium participants addressing issues of talent identification, teacher preparation, and curriculum. Ways that young children who are gifted or talented can be nurtured at school and at home are demonstrated. (Contains 32 references.

Parents usually provide supportive home conditions for a child. However, normal educational conditions in kindergartens and schools do not favour the development of a gifted child. Serious conflicts between family and kindergarten or school may arise as a result. With the aid of two interactional models, this paper shows how family and kindergarten or school could create a stimulating environment for each child, including a gifted child. A parents' questionnaire intended to inform kindergarten about a child's characteristics on admission to a kindergarten is also being developed. The questionnaire will assist in encouraging proper cooperation between family, kindergarten, and school.

The topic of gifted education has been researched widely up to present days. The overview of the historical background, summarizing the main concepts of universal meaning of giftedness, is presented in this research. Different ways of perceiving giftedness as a construct, including teachers’ views particularly, are being discussed in here. The present study sought to explore teachers’ understanding and perceptions of giftedness and to investigate the ways of conceptualizing, identifying, and serving/supporting gifted students at school. The means of mixed method research design were applied in here in order to provide a full image of teachers’ perspectives on the theme. Ninety two high-school teachers of gifted students in an urban school system with an established gifted curriculum were surveyed. Results indicated that teachers still held a narrow conception of giftedness. Through semi structured interviews, participants’ perceptions of the term ‘giftedness’, training experience and its impact on the conceptualization, understanding of gifted students’ characteristics and needs were examined. Participants perceived an increase in their understanding of the needs and characteristics of gifted students through participation in the discussion as well as increased confidence in their general teaching abilities. Implications of the study for teacher education and future research are discussed. Keywords: giftedness, teachers’ perceptions, teachers’ nomination, identification procedures, mixed methods, Kazakhstan

This study aims to investigate preservice preschool teachers' views on gifted children. Mixed method was conducted in the study. " The Scale for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Gifted and Talented Students " , developed by Şahin (2012), and semi-structured interview forms were used. The findings indicate that preservice preschool teachers associate giftedness with cognitive characteristics in general. Therefore, they usually focus on cognitive skills when the basic characteristics of gifted children are in question. Their responses to the scale show that they believe that these children are gifted in problem solving skills and general cognitive skills, but hesitant in communicative and social skills.

DergiPark (Istanbul University), 2022

Teaching is an exceptionally challenging task but teaching gifted/talented/creative learners presents even more challenges, while at the same time providing excellent opportunities for professional growth and development. This paper reviews some of the main skills needed to teach gifted children, examines the competencies of teachers of gifted children and highlights the protocols that should underpin and facilitate exceptionally competent teachers of gifted children. The previous era had required an education for stability, the coming era requires an education for instability. In this review, the differences of teachers of gifted students, especially their knowledge level about diagnostic processes, their expertise and competencies in intellectual assessment, high-level, critical and philosophical thinking skills are discussed in detail.

Journal of Preschool and Elementary School Education, 2022

The aim of the research was to identify the type of support that teachers provide to gifted students in grades 4-6 of primary schools in Poland in relation to their concepts of giftedness. Teachers' understanding of the category of gifted students was analyzed: What do they find crucial in identifying gifted students? What areas of gifted students' development are most important to them? Are there differences in the strategies for supporting gifted students between teachers who have different concepts of giftedness and who teach different subjects? The research was conducted on a group of 188 teachers using the standardized 20-item Balanced Development of Gifted Students Questionnaire. It helped identify the scope of the teachers' activities in the cognitive, emotional/social, motivational, and creative spheres. It was shown that the dominant concept of giftedness among the surveyed teachers was cognitive and that their activities supporting gifted students were mainly aimed at mental development and knowledge acquisition. Support of the emotional/social sphere of gifted students was least frequently indicated by the respondents. There was consistency between the type of support provided and the teacher's preferred concept of giftedness. There were significant differences in the definition of giftedness and the related type of support between teachers of different subjects. The subject which they taught also significantly differentiated the number of students identified as gifted: The most gifted students were identified by the art teachers, while the least were identified by the math teachers. The results may serve as guidelines for developing teachers' competencies in working with gifted students by popularizing the concept of balanced development and making them aware of the links between beliefs about giftedness and the type of support provided.